|
Kamen Rider Revice Episode 48- "Proof of Determination!" Discussion
The Igarashi siblings barely escape Juuga's attack.
Watch SuperHeroTime Via Livestream!! Check out episodes as they air on Saturday by heading over to Taima TV. They play other miscellaneous programs up until the live broadcast starts. Live Streams of the Superhero Time block now start at 8PM EST on Saturdays! |
I really don’t care for Karisaki’s childish crusade (which is good because it seems to be over), and I hate how the show has devolved into a long epilogue, but I can't lie: The memory loss thing finally being relevant and actually packing a big punch drama-wise is kind of awesome.
And I'm actually excited to see it escalate further? Also we’re being blessed with one more Destream appearance so that’s something I guess? |
I think the true final boss in Revice series is loss of memory because a side effect when Ikki make contract with Vice. :D
Ha-ha-ha-ha! :D |
so Vice wants Ikki to kill him so their contract will be nullified and he regains his memory or prevent Ikki from losing any more memories?
i hope they dont just magically give Ikki back his memories. Who am I kidding, they probably will? There is 1 more Vistamp left. |
I loved the smile-through-tears atmosphere in this episode. Hiromi and the others' little detective work was also interesting, albeit very drawn-out. Yes, and Hiromi himself was so enthusiastic that in places it seemed that he was possessed by the imagin. As for George's motivation, such people infuriate me both in reality and in the show, but I think many adults and children will be able to associate themselves with him. And, I hope, they will draw the right conclusions. Also, as I predicted, he is not the final boss. Having Ikki fight Vice in the show's finale makes sense thematically, but it's more likely to be another conflict between the two that isn't a conflict at all. It seems that even Ryotaro got along worse with the Imagins (something too many references to Den-O in one comment).
I hope the ending is not stretched over two episodes and the final one, like last year, will be a teaser for the upcoming crossover and the first acquaintance with Geats for those who do not live in Japan. P.S. By the way, we won't get vistamps for Blade, Kabuto, Drive, Ghost and a few Shova shows? Kind of weird. |
Quote:
|
Surprisingly not that awful! Still feels pretty weird that this is the third last episode and it's basically just wrapping up George's Daddy problems. I mean, we don't even know who the final villain is now. But for what it was, a story about grief and how people can take their loved ones for granted until it's too late, I think it succeeded.
This little Juuga arc mostly suffered from lack of context regarding George's motivation and too many scenes about Ikki's memory loss. However, this episode worked better for me, by using the Igarashis' situation as a parallel to George's. Ikki's not literally dying, but to his family, he may as well be. Juuga was George's way of pretending he doesn't care about his dead father and he needed the Ultimate Busybody to help him realize that. I guess I'm glad this arc exists, concerning one of my favorite characters in the show, even though I would've preferred if it was a V-Cinema or special. I don't feel like the plot has progressed at all, I'm not even sure what is the plot at this point. They really are just stretching it to reach that 50 episode goal. But whatever, I enjoyed this episode, at least. So, will George accept Hiromi's offer of dinner now? ;) |
This episode was an emotional gut-punch for me. Despite how messy some of the lead up was, the emotional moments really hit how they were supposed to, and that's a credit to the cast who are all doing a PHENOMENAL job here.
One thing I'll commend Revice for is commitment to its core theme. We were told that this show would be about family from the beginning, and it's been a main theme along nearly every story arc. Evil's beef with Ikki, Olteca's familial abuse turning him into the sociopath that he is, Akaishi's weird obsession with making Daiji his surrogate son and even Hana not being able to detach herself from the Deadmans because they were HER family. Now we have George's daddy issues manifesting in a self-destructive obsession with surpassing him. It really helped to keep this series grounded to its core theme. |
I've really enjoyed both of these episodes with Juuga, for the record. The show spent a ton of time in its back half building up the messy relationship between George and Daddy, so while I think the overly simplified "I'm *evil* now!" vibe he was giving off maybe set the wrong tone, I think doing a story this personal and small in scale at the very end made loads of sense for this series.
The entire reason Ikki formally committed to becoming a Kamen Rider in the first place was because he wanted to protect families, whether they were his own or not, so to bring everything back down to that, and have Revice fighting not to save the world, but to save a relationship, even if it means Ikki has to give up everything else that matters to him in the process -- I just can't see how that isn't part of a fitting, thematically coherent, and dramatically impactful conclusion for Revice? We've still got a couple episodes left, and it's not hard to guess the broad strokes of how they'll go based on the preview we have, but I expect I'll have nice things to say about those episodes as well. For now though, this one was darn great in my book. A lot of great emotion thanks to stellar direction, and performances that let you feel the growth the actors have had over a year,. Above all else, it also emphasized that even in-universe, Kamen Rider Revice was always about family bonds. Can't go wrong with that. |
This episode feels at odds with itself. The humor just does not blend at all and simply detracts from the somber, foreboding tone they seem to be going for. Not that it would work without the humor. George's actor is trying, dear god he is trying, but the material is just so laughably bad that it comes off as goofy and nothing else. Juuga also feels like he just does not belong with how easily he is ultimately swatted aside, once more not giving the heroes any real challenge and handing them the victory.
As for the memory plot line, way too little, way too late, filtered through a wet towel of a character. Aka, it leaves me feeling absolutely nothing. And given my dislike for the family in general, it almost feels like he'll be better off without them. Though, that's mostly a joke on my part. What's not a joke is that I really dislike Ikki's position in the conflict this week. Masamune is not someone Geroge should have to accept. It doesn't matter that he loved his son; whenever it mattered, he chose wrong. George may go about his pain in the wrong way, but I don't think the conclusion he reached was the wrong one. Cutting Masamune out of his life feels like the right choice for him. In the end, the man has caused him more pain and trauma than he has done him good. Sometimes not having a family is better than having one. Also, a small nitpick, the Weekend Base being Masamune's old house feels... wrong in some way. I can't exactly place it, but it feels just not right. As for the next episode, seems to be pretty obvious where they are going, and am not a fan of it. Through that could be because the whole memory plotline feels incredibly contrived to me already. |
Ugh. I thought I wouldn't have anything to say about this last few episodes, and just have fun watching George be evil, but the whole climax of this episode kinda really ticked me off?
It reminded me a lot of the exact same problems I had with Beyond Generations, which featured a parent doing unspeakably terrible things, but it's all fine because they still loved their kid. Like hello? Masumi stuffed a demon into George? That's an insane and ridiculous thing to do to your child, and who cares if it was 'out of love'? And that's on top of generally being repsonsible for all that Vail stuff. I've typically loved when the show focused on its themes on family, but I felt that this episode in particular, just like that movie, leaned into it in a really boneheaded and reductive way. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
He defiantly needs to come to grips with his lose in a different way, but pretending Masamune was a good father feels like the wrong solution to me. |
Uh, you guys, Masamune isn't even a character in this show.
|
Quote:
|
-The Karizaki family dynamic has always been...Complicated, providing a neat contrast to the Igarashi family life. It was one of the things I praised the show for earlier, not simply resolving the pain and anger that comes from such a complicated dynamic in a single episode. And well...........
- Ok, so, we can all agree that Ikki spinning Masumi giving George his demon as a good thing to be a bit silly, right? Other than that....I guess im fine with how things turned out? Yeah, you can make your own opinions on how truly shitty or good Masumi as a father was, but that doesn't deny George of his complicated desires to, y'know, reconcile with the guy and rebulid their relationship, and his regrets for not understanding his true feelings until he died, and his pride as a scientist (and anger of an abandonded child) to surpass his father. You can say "It's ridculous for George to still desire a connection to his father due to how much of an ass he was!" as much as you like...but I've found that it's a more common emotion for people with complicated relationships toward their families than you may think? (Look at me defending this 2-parter lol, i'm still pretty not fond on Juuga being the way we wrap their plotline up for the Karizakis.) -Speaking of plotlines I was never really fond of! Ikki's memory loss has reached its climax, he's forgotten all of his family, how unfortunate. As much as I didn't like the plotline from the moment it was intro'd and think it could be executed in better ways, I do admit all the actors in the Igarashi family do a wonderful job of selling the emotional pain of this whole ordeal. Now then..... -We all know what's going to happen next episode, right? I don't even need to say it. The only question is.......It's definitely not going to end tearfully, so how are we actually going to resolve this issue? Because, if the answer is just "*shrugs* Let's just make a new contract, dude!", I'm going to have the biggest headache. Ikki and Vice are the only demon-human pair with an actual contract, so the writers can free to do whatever they please with it. At the very least......let it at least manage to hit emotionally somehow. |
I actually have no problem with George coming to the final conclusion that he still feels love for him. It makes sense. Both cherishing what they had and cutting him out are valid paths for him to take.
My gripe is more with the metatextual level of "He loved him, so it's fine" this episode seems to go with. Because, no, it's not fine. Wanting George to accept his father is fine, but I feel like it should come with the acknowledgment that what he did was wrong,in the episode this is resolved in. Because, quite frankly, it's ok to hurt the ones you love if you truly love them is not a good message to give, period. |
Quote:
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
My theory about the end: Vice is disappearing after they break the contract through the fight, and as he does, Ikki tells him to make another contract, that he'll never leave him alone and to stay. Vice agrees to it.
Music cuts abruptly and the scene zooms out, as Vice has stopped disappearing. Everyone is just stunned because no one thought that would work. No dramatics, Vice is now okay, and Ikki's got his memories back. |
You know, in almost any other show I feel like the protagonist burning through their memories so they can help others to the point of forgetting their own family would have the emotional weight of a wrecking ball, but because of how sloppy Revice is in general it only really hits me on a level of "oh no". This show! It has such good ideas! But the implementation is never up to snuff! Gaaaaaaah!
Mostly off topic, but this episode also made me realize something else. I don't actually really see Ikki as a busybody? Maybe it is just something getting lost in translation here, but I don't really think he meddles in other people's business more than most of the other characters in the show do. Honestly if you pressed me to pick out a Rider I thought was Japan's Number 1 Busybody, I'd probably pick Shotaro from W... |
I'd be willing to give Shotaro a pass considering his profession is literally a private investigator. Being a busybody and getting nosy is a prerequisite to solving most cases :lol
I'd say Sougo is the biggest busybody. Motherfucker goes "I wanna be king!" and then proceeds to not stop bothering any random stranger. |
I refrain for giving my thoughts in last week post because I want to see how this arc about George will wrap up. Honestly, I'm not disappointed at all and I finally see what I love about this series. Asakura had explained it well that Revice was really consistent at keeping the family theme at its core and making it as grounded as possible. I think the decision for making George the Final Boss, and Vice too in next week, was the best possible answer. I would be even more peeved if Giff survived to this point and ended up as the Final Boss. Making the characters that we all know and love be the Final Villain hit closer to home than insisting Giff or even Akaishi as the last hurdle.
Kamihoriuchi directing aside, these two episodes were all splendid and AMAZING. The acting in Revice... Let's just say it wasn't as the best the show could offer. But for these last two episodes, all of the casts brought their A to the game. Simple scene like Hiromi going back to his funny persona, Tamaki trying his best to 'not' impersonate Ikki, Hikaru being the only sane man in little scene that he had, and so on. It was even gut wrenching to see both Yukimi and Sakura, the girls in the family, absolutely didn't take on Ikki losing his memories with ease; that it was NOT okay for Ikki to forget them. I don't think the episode would have given such emotional impact, had it not been for all the cast and staff giving their best effort in this last encore. I think Revice's biggest misstep was they were focusing too much about Giff and Akaishi around the 30s. This was proven by when the show laser-focused at its core theme, they could pull out some of the best moments in the show. It's not that Giff or Akaishi were bad, they were just not as personal as if other characters took the spotlight as the villain. The only good thing that came from Giff and Akaishi arc was giving more development for Daiji and resulting the birth of Evilytylive, which was my favorite ep and moment in the show for Daiji |
Quote:
|
Catching up on everything, and...
These was actually some of my favorite (recent) Revice Episodes! I know people were disappointed in hearing that we were getting another Rider as the final boss, but it's honestly fitting for the 50th Anniversary Season. Juuga is a great suit and the Driver's voice is pretty neat (though is it just me? Or does it sound suspiciously like Akaishi?) I do think, this arc was too short for two episodes, granted better than some of Revice's early episodes, and George becoming a Villain is a little left field and reminds me of Daiji's Villain Arc, which I'd rather not remember. But strangely, this worked for Revice's theme of family, and the resolution was still very nice. And I just want to say, seeing Ikki, Vice, Hikaru, and Hiromi (I don't know why, but it feels like seeing him back to his old self, post "death") messing around in Karizaki's house, just the pure idiocy of these four was beautiful. Karizaki should have done more Rider poses. Disappointed. Next Episode: You know, I think we all saw Revi vs. Vice from the very beginning. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
The end of Juuga's rampage... and the Igarashi's smiles for a time being.
I guess, as said here, this actually fits Revice's theme about families, and Ikki's someone who values families and tried to keep their good relationship, whenever if it's his family or others. For example, the recently appeared Bon here, tried to make him get along with his grandfather. He was someone that also uses good family relationship as his guide for others to improve, starting with them first. He didn't use his family's well-being as an excuse to ignore, though he can be occassionally oblivious of other's needs when his family is happy, such as prioritizing Happy Spa over being a Rider, or their onsen moments. And now, he does it to the major dysfunctional family, the Karizakis. It fits the show theme, but like many other things in Revice, wish that the idea is executed better... George's cause of world peace is only a front that he only wanted to spite on Masumi beyond the grave by proving his creations superior. Well, his prejudice towards demons would remain, so he'd destroy ViStamp-based (invented by Masumi) Rider system, and it's an irony as Masumi was prejudiced against demons before, like when he observed Ikki and Vice's growing relationship, and George took up that trait now. And as Juuga is purely human-based Rider system, now Ikki counters with how Giffard Rex ViStamp was a collaboration of George and his father, and thus if Ikki beats him, it'd prove that his father is important to George. But, after Juuga's showing before that surpassed Giff, Juuga just got beaten by regular finisher by Ultimate Revi/Vice? So taking down Juuga is still anti-climatic too, despite (and especially) Juuga consistently gaining upper hand before like he should. Technically before Ultimate Revi/Vice didn't fight together against Juuga, is this something like W to show off teamwork? Final bosses are beaten without much problem when Shotaro and Philip got their act together (against both Terror and Utopia Dopants), and now, Ikki and Vice are complete, thus they're unbeatable. But W had W (and Accel, for Terror) being constantly in the upper hand in the boss' defeat, so the fight is consistent, unlike Revice here that had Juuga being on upper hand before finisher. Other than that, to convince George that his father loved him, Ikki... absolved Masumi from his wrongdoings by glorifying him injecting Chic on him? What?? This is the type of solving parent-children conflict that should be avoided, like how Zi-O solves the Kamen Rider Quiz's problem with his father. It should really be emphasized that even if parents genuinely love their children, they can be misguided in showing it. Masumi injecting Chic on him shouldn't be condoned because Masumi loved him (which is true, but often used to absolve parents from their mistakes), it'd be better if what's used to remind George, are the flashback moments where Masumi was shown clearly getting along with kid George, helping and encouraging him to be better, and make it a case to not look past all the good things someone's done and only focus on one bad thing they've committed, countering the saying of “Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water.”. Not only to remind George that he had received love from father in other times, but also to differentiate better which action is a genuine mistake and which one is actually malicious. After neutrailizing the threat of Juuga, the solution is done by giving George the picture he draw with Masumi together when he was a child. And George finally acknowledges that Masumi loved him due to realizing that the ViStamp idea was inspired by those pictures, which he then breaks down in the regret that he can never make up with his father now. Realizing The True Value Of Something When You Lose It type. And seems that the pictures alone are enough, not the entire room Masumi kept for George. For their methods to try calming George back, surprisingly the comedy is involved here with Hiromi's frantic behavior, as well as once more his serious demeanor being played for laughs in something as simple as looking for documents. Then Vice using open sesame to try opening the door, and later of Vice inadvertently easily opening the door. Regarding Ikki's busybody traits, this seems to be the kind of journey that comes full circle, both for Ikki and the other characters, though this doesn't mean they have something in them tested. Like for example, Shinji in Ryuki that had him being conflicted on stopping the Rider War or not due to the Rider's mortality or wishes, but ends up choosing to close the Mirror World even at the cost of their dreams (lol Ryuki comparison, after child doodling part here). Now Ikki's busybodiness is recognized as something benefical and admirable, with testaments from Tamaki, who acknowledged that he still lives due to Ikki. Though it's not only from Ikki intervening alone, it's also due to Ikki's sense of justice to try looking for solutions that doesn't involve killing. Ikki hasn't let go from his busybodiness completely, though he did get better at letting others handle their problems, but now, Daiji and Sakura supported Ikki's busybodiness due to the 2 reformed former villains being among the benefical effects of it. And not only the characters, I was puzzled too at Tamaki's impression of Ikki, but yeah it's still worth laughing over, it's harmless even if wrong. Quote:
|
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:14 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
TokuNation News & Rumors |
actor Minori Terada dead at 81 |
Seihou Gaim Figuarts |
Kamen Rider Outsiders Ep5 with a new form for... |
Ride Kamens |
Ninja Sentai Kakuranger 30th anniversary |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:14 AM.
|